Re: OT editors

Roy Hann wrote:
> "David Cressey" <cressey73_at_verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:v5v6j.400$ki7.14_at_trndny06...

>> The only versions of vi that I have been exposed to were outrageously
>> primitive when compared to the text editors of VAX/VMS from a quarter of a
>> century ago.  And EMACS looks like its even more sophisticated than those.

Ditto.

> On
> the other hand I have used a very large number of editors on everything from
> mainframes to the most capable PCs and everything in between so I can
> legitimately claim to know what I'm talking about.

In my case I know what I like!

> Indisputably the best editor ever was called EDIT/1000 and it ran on HP's
> old HP1000 minicomputers back when molluscs were new.

Never used Brief?

> Right about the time
> I stopped using that, I started using vi. I hated vi. I swore at vi. I
> wished vi dead. But slowly, no thanks to any documentation 'cos there
> wasn't any really, I started to "get" vi.

I find it works at the rate I should let my brain work - which is slower than it wants to!

> Around about the same time I
> started using emacs too. Emacs didn't do it for me but I could see what it
> was trying to do and that a reasonable person could love it.
>
> But worse than any of them are the innumerable half-assed editors that every
> new IDE seems to feel the need to re-invent. They are all hideous.

or worse!

> Anyway, today I use vim. I carry it around on a flash drive in case I end
> up somewhere that doesn't have it.
>
> And no one should diss vi until they know it well. Looking back, the great
> problem with vi then and now was the lack of a good tutorial. Ironically it
> did exist; it just wasn't widely known. It was only relatively recently
> that I found The Ultimate Guide to the vi and ex Text Editors,
> Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-8053-4460-8. If you think you know vi, take a look.
> You will probably be surprised.

Yep - that title evokes some old memories!

> EDIT/1000 still sets the standard for the expressive power of its regular
> expressions. You will find something comparable in antlr today.
>
> Roy

Cheers, Frank. Received on Sun Dec 09 2007 - 13:06:28 CET